The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may or may not constitute prior art.
It is common practice to mount a power take off (PTO) to an automatic transmission of a motor vehicle, especially heavy duty pickups and commercial vehicles, to provide power for auxiliary devices such as lift gates, snow plows, dump beds, generators, fluid pumping and the like. The power take off generally provides a mounting surface and drives a dedicated hydraulic pump which provides pressurized hydraulic fluid that may be utilized to drive the above-listed components and others. The power take off is generally driven by the automatic transmission. The obvious appeal of such an arrangement is that the power take off and pump can provide fluid power to various devices which may be interchanged to fit various vehicles and applications, all driven by the automatic transmission.
Various drive configurations have been proposed and utilized. The standard drive configuration comprises a first, drive gear coupled to an on-axis rotating component of the transmission which engages and drives a second, driven gear which is coupled to an input shaft of the power take off. The drive gear may be coupled to and driven by an engine output/torque converter pump member such as the torque converter pump hub. Alternatively, the drive gear may be coupled to and driven by the torque converter turbine member such as the transmission turbine shaft in which case the drive gear will not rotate when the vehicle is stationary.